Oblivion
by Dark Shroud
Summary: Rogue wakes up in the infirmary to find the institute in ruins. The X-Men are gone and all of Bayeville has been destroyed. What has happened ot everything she knew. Crossover. Please R&R. CHAPTER 4 UP!
1. Default Chapter

Author's Notes: This story is a cross over between X-Men Evolution and 28 Days Later. For those of you who are reading my other fics I just want to tell you that I will still work on New Friends and New Evils, and I will try to finish Puppet Master Evolution. This is sort of an alternate plot line taking place after Self Possessed. This story may take a few pages to get interesting, please be patient.

Please tell me what you think of this crossover.

Disclaimer- I do not own anything from X-Men Evolution or 28 Days Later. DO NOT SUE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Warning: There will be violence and deaths of some of the Evo characters.

Waking Up in Chaos

The Nightmares plagued her mind every night she was in the infirmary of the Xavier Institute. She was still haunted by the events that had occurred the night of the concert. The same question ran through her mind over and over again. "Why Risty? Why couldn't you be real? You were mah only human friend. Why did you have to be Mystique?"

No one could understand the pain she was in, well maybe Logan, but other than that she was the only one who would understand the pain.

It had been nearly a month since the people she absorbed took control of her, and Rogue was still in the bed of the infirmary. She was almost always sleeping. Every now and again she would slip into consciousness for only a short period of time, but other than that she was left with her own thoughts in her dreams. She was all alone.

The last thing she remembered fully was Logan talking to her about how betrayal always sticks with a person, but she would learn to deal with that. Other than that all she saw was blackness.

Now, after all that time in her own mind she felt herself come back into full consciousness. It was a slow and sluggish feeling. Her eyes opened and she finally could feel where she really was. All her senses returned to her. Sight being the first.

Rogue sat up in the bed. She wondered why there was no one down there with her. She expected to at least see Mr. McCoy.

"Hello," she called out. "Mr. McCoy?! Professor?! Is anybody here?!"

There was no reply. She pulled the covers off of herself and stood on the floor.

It was then that the second sense hit.

She could feel a cold breeze flow throughout the room. It made her shiver.

All she was wearing at the time was a greenish white hospital T-shirt. Her arms and legs were pretty much entirely exposed.

It was when she felt the breeze that she noticed the door to the infirmary was no longer there. It looked like it had been torn off.

Rogue looked at the empty door way curiously.

"Is anyone out there?"

Still she received no answer.

Her heart began to pound. The silence around her was so unnerving. Usually there was some sort of noise in the institute, and you could hear it no matter where you were.

Rogue walked out the empty door way grabbing two white rubber hospital gloves in the process.

She slipped them onto her hands when she made it into the institute. As soon as she was out of the infirmary she gasped at the terrible sight.

The Institute was in ruins. Much like what happened the day mutants were discovered. But in this case the damages were not as severe.

This wreckage was not a result of an explosion. The place was completely torn apart. It looked as if some sort of battle had happened. Nearly everything was destroyed.

Rogue began to panic. The X-Men were no where to be seen.

She began running through what was left of the institute screaming for anyone.

"HELLO! ANYBODY! IS ANYBODY HERE?!"

She began yelling out names; hoping somebody would hear her.

"LOGAN! KURT! SCOTT!"

She even yelled the name of the person she hated. "JEAN!"

She didn't care who came. She just wanted somebody. She wanted somebody to hear her, somebody to be with her, just so she knew she wasn't alone in this.

It took her a while but she made it outside. She was till screaming, calling for anybody to hear her.

And at that moment she stopped. Her gaze focused on the outside of the institute.

It was not only the institute that was in ruins, but all of Bayeville. Everything was destroyed.

Rogue began to walk backwards into the institute. She could not take her eyes off of the many ruins.

Everything looked abandoned. It was like she was the only person left on Earth.

She was alone. For the first time in her life she was truly alone.

As she moved backward into the institute her foot banged against something large and stiff.

The Goth hit the ground hard with a thud. She let out a groan as a sharp and quick pain moved up her back.

For a few moments she just lied there. She was in no hurry to get up. As far as she was concerned there was no point in even getting up at all, but she knew she had to.

She lifted her head up, slowly and easily. And that was when she saw what she had tripped over.

"Oh God," she said. "Roberto."

There lying in front of her was the corpse of Roberto.

He lay on the ground, face starring lifelessly at the sky. The position of his body indicated he had been thrown back or tackled by something.

His torso was mangled; covered in many scratches and claw marks, like he had been attacked by some kind of animal.

He had to have been attacked during the night, otherwise his mutant abilities would have helped him prevent his demise.

Rogue stood from where she had fallen and looked at the dead body. What ever the mess was that Rogue was now in it was bad. She was alone in the middle of an abandoned city, not knowing what happened to everyone that had thrived in it.

She looked back out to the condemned Bayeville and whispered to herself, "what happened here?"

It took Rogue quite a while to come to her senses. She had mourned for Roberto for quite some time. It was true that she did not really know him, but still he was a member of the institute.

Rogue found it sad that she never got to know him. But she could not worry about that now. She had to deal with the situation at hand.

After paying her respects to Roberto she left the institute grounds. She was not concerned about her exposed skin, it wasn't like she was going to run into anybody.

As she made her way through the desolate streets she saw some of the destruction. And there was plenty to see.

Windows were shattered in local shops and buildings. There were many crashed cars all along the roadside or in the dead center of it. But strangely enough there were no other dead bodies to be found.

Rogue's thoughts spun around in her head as she walked through the grim city. She tried to think of an explanation for all that she saw.

She talked out loud to herself. In this case she did not fear anyone listening to her thoughts.

"Maybe this is the result of some sort of terrorist attack." She quickly shot that lame thought aside.

"It couldn't have been a nuclear explosion," she said to herself, "if it were Ah would have been obliterated."

"Maybe we were bombed or something? No bombs wouldn't make everyone disappear."

In no time she stopped trying to think of an explanation. All that thinking was giving her a massive headache. Probably because she was still weak from laying in that hospital bed for so long.

She tried her best to ignore the throbbing, but it was to no avail. Luckily she was passing by a local convenient store. She figured there was no harm in at least checking it out to see if she could find a bottle of aspirin no matter how slime the chances of finding some were. What else was she going to do?

She walked through the broken doorway and into the store.

The destruction obviously took its toll in there as well. Many shelves were knocked over and displays for food were thrown about all over the place. But as unusual as it seemed most of the products of the store were still there and in good condition.

Rogue made her way over the rubble and through the store. In no time she found a bottle of aspirin. She left the store grabbing a bottle of water on the way out.

The aspirin did little for her headache, but at least the pills made it bearable.

Her stomach growled with hunger as she continued through the ruins.

She said angrily to herself, "Ah knew Ah should have grabbed some food in that store."

She griped to herself as she made her way to a nearly empty newsstand. Ever since the day mutants were discovered her life only seemed to get worse.

She had been constantly teased in school, her powers went crazy, she found out that her worst enemy was actually her mother, and now everything she has known is all gone. How could it get any worse? Sadly she did not truly know how bad things had actually become. However she would find out soon.

When she finally made it to the newsstand one of the few newspapers that was left caught her eye.

There it was, written in bold letters. The word "Evacuation" was on the front page of the paper in big bold letters.

Rogue snatched the paper and looked at the bold word again. She began to read the paper aloud to herself.

"The President has ordered for the immediate evacuation of the entire state of New York. During a Green Piece infiltration of a secret animal testing facility the group unknowingly released animals that were carrying a highly contagious and extremely dangerous disease only known as Infection. Government officials and the military have been trying to get people out of New York before the disease can spread. So far no information about the symptoms of Infection have been released. The Government believes more panic will spread if symptoms are known."

After reading this much Rogue dropped the paper. She learned all that she needed to know.

"This doesn't make any sense," she said. "If New York was evacuated then why did the X-Men leave me in the infirmary?"

She then looked around at all the destruction and said, "and how the fuck could a disease cause all this?"

She kicked the paper aside and began once again to walk through the wreckage that was Bayeville, trying to piece everything together as she moved.

"Ok. So these Green Piece people accidentally unleash some deadly disease. So they evacuate New York and then all the buildings fall apart So maybe they didn't get everybody out in time But that doesn't why every things destroyed."

In the midst of all her thinking she eventually found her self at the High School. Of course it was no different from everything else. It was just as bad as the institute was. Everything was a mess.

"Well," said Rogue, "looks like school will be out for a while."

She rolled her eyes after saying that. It was just a simple joke to try and cheer herself up. It didn't work.

She looked through the schoolyard where all the kids used to eat lunch on the sunny days. Her gaze came to the tree where she would usually sit under and read while the other students gossiped about God knows what.

She loved to read under that tree. And now it was as sad as the city around it. It was all cracked and broken. There were no more leaves growing on it. It was now nothing but a cluster of dead branches and rotting bark.

Rogue looked away from the tree and to the school. She looked up at the window, which she would sit next to during French class. It was where she would look out onto the grass and look at her tree.

Just then, something passed by the window.

"What was that," Rogue asked herself as she saw the shape. What ever it was, it was shaped like a human.

Rogue's eyes filled up with a speck of hope. This meant that at least one person had survived what ever happened here.

She ran into the school yelling, "Hello! Can you hear me!"

She did not care who it was. She would have even been happy if the person was Duncan Mathews. It didn't matter, as long she as it meant she wasn't alone.

Rogue ran passed fallen lockers and banged up walls. She made it to a flight of stairs and made her way up them as quickly as possible.

When she made it to the second floor she stopped running. Her weakness from the hospital bed had caught up with her. Now she was breathing heavily and felt like she was going to pass out.

She leaned against the wall the rest of the way to the French class.

Luckily some of her strength returned when she reached the door of the class room.

She entered the room quickly calling out, "hello! Is someone in here!?"

The Goth looked around the room for the person that she saw. Her hope grew even more when she saw someone standing near the dilapidated desk.

Even though she could not see the person's face she knew who it was instantly. It was the girl known as Taryn. Jean's former best friend and Scott's x-girlfriend.

Rogue knew her as a stuck up preppy bitch, and the Goth never thought she would ever be so happy to see her.

"Taryn," she said, "oh thank God. Ah was starting to scared here. Do you know what the hell happened here? Ah just woke up in the institute and saw that everything has gone to shit."

Taryn did not answer her. She lifted her head up and turned to Rogue.

The Goth stepped back in horror at what she saw.

Taryn had blood smeared all around her mouth. Her cloths were ragged and torn. Her eyes had changed from the nice chestnut brown to a demonic orange and red. Her skin was now a little more pale, not quite as pale as Rogue's, but it was enough to come to the conclusion that something was definitely wrong.

"Taryn," Rogue said questioningly to the former preppy girl.

The girl looked at Rogue, much like the way a wild animal would look at its prey. Her had twitched as her arms began to flail. Hideous noises were coming out of her mouth.

Taryn ran at Rogue with a look of rage in her eyes.

In one quick move Rogue grabbed hold of her arm and twisted it so she was no at the back of the charging girl.

She pinned Taryn to the wall and ripped the glove off her right hand with her teeth.

"Ah don't know what's wrong with you," she said, "but Ah'm putting you down."

She clamped her hand on the back of the young woman's neck. She was ready to feel her strength and memories flow into her. But nothing happened.

Rogue's eyes turned wide with shock at this discovery. Her powers did not work on Taryn.

In an instant Taryn managed to free her arm and with new found strength the managed to throw Rogue across the room.

Rogue hit the wall hard and fell to the floor.

Taryn did not give any time for recovery. She ran at Rogue once again.

Rogue rolled to the side barely missing Taryn's thrashing arms. She stood up and did the only thing she could do now. Run.

She ran out of the French class with Taryn right behind her. The horrible noises kept coming out of her mouth. It was like she wasn't even human anymore.

"It isn't Taryn," Rogue screamed to herself as she ran. "It can't be! There's no way Taryn would behave like this!"

She ran down the stairs and out of the building. But Taryn still remain hot on her tail.

Rogue ran for the gymnasium. She pushed the doors open and shut them quickly. She then pushed her back up against it to keep Taryn out.

The girl outside began ramming herself against the door. Each hit came hard and fast. Taryn never even stopped to take a breath. It was as if her only objective was to get Rogue. Possibly kill her as well.

Rogue used all the muscles in her legs to push against the door. She knew she wouldn't be able to hold her for much longer.

As the ramming continued Rogue finally looked straight into the gym, and saw the terrible sight.

Many of the Bayeville High students were in there. All of them dead. They were pilled upon each other. Some on the bleachers, and others on the floor as if they were trying to run away from something, but were killed in the process.

There must have been some kind of school meeting. That would be the only reason for everybody to be in the gym.

Rogue saw the podium was put up in the middle of it. And there she saw Principle Kelly's dead body slumped over it.

Rogue's eyes filled with despair.

She screamed out in desperation, "GOD HELP ME!!"

As soon as those words left her lips, three of the bodies on the bleachers stood up.

Rogue looked at them. They had the same characteristics as Taryn, except for a few more cuts and wounds.

They looked at Rogue the same way Taryn did and the same horrible noises came out of their mouths.

The three mangled figures began running towards Rogue with their heads twitching and their arms thrashing about.

Rogue watched them come at her with the fury of a pack of hungry wolves. Taryn still kept ramming against the door.

When the other three figures were only a few feet away from Rogue, she moved out of the way and let Taryn barge right in.

She crashed into two of the running figures knocking them down.

Rogue ran through the open door and down the streets of the destroyed city. In seconds all four of the things were after her again.

The Goth ran for her life as she felt her weakness return to her, but she knew she couldn't stop.

The things kept with her no matter how many turns she took, or how fast she ran.

They were soon joined by even more figures much like them. All looked human, but Rogue knew they were not.

The poor Goth began to think there was no way out of this situation. That no matter what she did she was going to get torn apart by these things.

The figure that was Taryn was now only a few feet behind her. She could hear its horrible hissing and gasping noises coming out of its mouth. Its thirst for blood urging it to keep up the chase.

Rogue ran by a dark ally thinking that the end was soon near.

All of a sudden an ax came out from the ally and hit Taryn right in the chest.

Rogue could her the sound of bloodshed and turned to what had happen.

She saw the tall form of a young man standing over the former Taryn as he hacked her to pieces with the ax. Rogue could not really tell what he looked like. He was completely covered.

He wore a black trench coat and black leather gloves. His face was covered with a brown scarf and black wool hat.

All Rogue could really see was his eyes. They had no color to them, only one black dot where the pupil was.

As another one of the things came at him another young man came into the action holding a baseball bat. He knocked the thing down and began to bash its face in.

This boy was a little shorter than the other and more portly. He covered his face with an old gas mask and he wore o beat up oil stained jump suit. His hands were also covered with black gloves.

As the two finished killing the two figures they turned to Rogue and ran by her. The boy with the ax grabbed her arm and they all ran as the things followed them.

Rogue screamed out as she was pulled along, "WHAT'S GOING ON! WHO ARE THOSE PEOPLE!"

The boy that pulled her just said, "shut the fuck up and keep running."

They continued in the one direction as the figures kept chasing them.

As they ran Rogue could see a bunch of gas canisters in a big pile up ahead.

The two boys pulled her to the pile and led her over it.

Then Rogue could see two more figures further away. They were both all covered up as well.

One stood holding a torch in one hand and a machete in the other. He wore a black jacket over a blue shirt and a pair of black jeans. His head was covered with a simple motor cycle helmet with the visor down.

The other held a small sledge hammer in his hand. He was dressed pretty similar to the guy standing next to him, but instead he had a ski mask over his face.

As Rogue and the other two boys ran towards them, the boy with the ax yelled, "light it Drew! Blow em all to hell!"

With those words the boy with the torch placed the hot flame onto a small puddle of gasoline that lied in front of him.

The flame lit up and began to grow as it made its way down a long trail of gasoline. The flame went by Rogue and the other two as they ran.

Rogue looked back and saw the fire heading for the gas canisters.

The remaining thing that had been chasing them began to clime over the pile that blocked their path.

Just as they did the flame made it to the canisters.

Within seconds the canisters exploded and all the things were covered in flame. After a while of thrashing they fell dead to the ground.

The other tow boys led Rogue to their comrades. They stopped to catch their breath and then turned to Rogue.

Rogue breathed heavily and looked at the four people. Between gasps she managed to let a , "thank you," pass her lips.

The boy with the ax looked at her. In an instant he walked over to her and pinned her against the wall of a nearby building.

Rogue's face turned to panic as the ax was held up to her face.

"Were you bitten," the young man asked.

Rogue did not answer. She only looked at the ax.

The boy asked more demandingly, "did one of those things bite you?"

Rogue said in a shaky voice, "no! No none of them bit me."

The boy took the ax and his hands away from her. "Are you alone," he asked.

Rogue could only nod.

The boy looked to his comrades and then back to her.

"Follow us," he said.

As they began to leave Rogue said, "wait a minute, would somebody please tell me what the hell is going on? What the hell was wrong with those people and who the hell are you?"

"Shut up," the boy said as they all turned to her.

"No questions now," he said, "just come with us if you want to stay alive. More of the infected with come soon. They always do when they sense blood."

They four then turned and began to walk away.

Rogue paused. She was not sure of she could trust these people. What the hell did the guy mean by the infected.

'Well they did save mah life,' Rogue thought before following them further into the condemned.

She still wasn't sure if she could trust them, but she figured she would be safer with guys who had weapons.


	2. Learning of Infection

Author's Notes: Thank you MCBLUE for reviewing my story. I will try to keep my story interesting.

This chapter is short, but they will get longer.

Learning of Infection

The four strangers led the way as Rogue tried to keep up. She was having difficulty moving by all the obstacles that lied in her path. The boys seemed to be able to get by them without a problem.

While they moved Rogue kept her eye open, wondering if there were any more of those things that Taryn had become. Her eyes darted from one dark ally to another, whenever she heard the slightest noise.

The sun was beginning to go down by the time the boys stopped in front of the Bayeville mall.

Rogue looked at it and saw that it had transformed from the happy place where Jean and Kitty used to shop to their hearts content to a desolate lonely building. It seemed so empty without the many people walking from store to store.

"What are we doing here," Rogue asked, not really expecting any of the boys to answer.

The boy with the machete who Rogue could now identify as Drew turned to her. "Well I guess you could say this place is home."

Rogue looked at the building again. There were many holes in the walls and it did not look like it could provide much protection from those things.

"Um" she began, "shouldn't we go somewhere a that looks safer."

"There's no time," said the boy with the bat. "It'll be dark very soon, and the infected mostly prefer the dark."

There was no more discussion about it. They all went into the mall to hide for the night.

It took some time to pry the door open. It was one of those automatic doors, and seeing as the power was out it did not work.

The boy called Drew jammed his machete into the crack of the door and then the kid with the baseball bat hit the handle until the door swung open. They had done this before.

When the were inside they pushed the door shut again and made their way down the mall in till they came to a small store.

Rogue walked inside it and saw what the boys had done with the place. They had taken things from other stores in the mall and brought them all here to make it somewhat livable.

They had for small chairs each with blankets laid upon them. They had taken food from some of the restaurants in the food court and put them neatly in a corner. They had flashlights and lanterns to provide them with a little light. Other than that they did not have much.

The boys did not sit down and relax right away. They always had to do their little routine before anyone rested.

Rogue watched as they closed the cage that block off the entrance to the store. Then the boy carrying the ax pick up a rag that off of one of the shelves in the pretty empty store.

He wiped the blood off his ax and handed it to the boy with the bat.

He wiped the blood off his weapon and then threw it into a small garbage can in the corner. He then took a box off matches out of his pocket and lit it.

As he did that the boy called Drew took a can of lighter fluid and sprayed it into the can. When the match was thrown in the rag burned in a matter of seconds.

Rogue was very curious as to why they were doing this, but she was smart enough not to ask about it. These boys didn't seem to like answering questions.

When the weapons were clean and they were all locked up tight the boys finally took off their face coverings, and Rogue could finally get a look at them.

The boy with the ax had jet-black hair and a small goatee around his mouth. His face was long and pale. His eyebrows made a small connection above his nose giving him a psychotic look.

The boy called Drew had brown hair. It curled slightly and was very tangled and messy around his head. He had brown eyes and his face looked mostly normal, except for a long scar that ran down his left cheek.

The boy with the baseball bat had a shaved head. His face was like that of a drill Sargent. He had a tough face that would make anybody cower at the sight of it.

And finally there was the boy with the hammer. His hair was black as well, but instead he had it spiked all around his head. He had the face of a normal everyday jock.

The boy with the ax walked up to Rogue and looked her right in the eyes.

"Why were you in the hospital," he asked her.

Rogue looked at him questioningly and then remembered she was still in the hospital T-shirt.

"Ah Ah wasn't in the hospital," she said. "Ah was in the infirmary of the Xavier Institute."

He looked over her before asking, "you're one of those mutants?"

Rogue looked sadly to the ground and then nodded. Knowing how people felt about mutants they would probably throw her back outside to deal with those things on her own.

The boy just nodded and said, "I always thought it would be a real pleasure to meet a mutant."

Rogue cocked an eyebrow at his response.

"What's your name girl," he asked.

Rogue hesitated for a few seconds before answering. "Mah name's Rogue."

"Rogue," said the boy. "Well Rogue, my name's Jack."

He began to point to his comrades while he spoke. "The guy with the machete is Drew as you know. The fat guy is Keith, and the guy with the spiked hair is Derrick."

"Ok," Rogue said as she looked around at the four boys. She was still a little uncomfortable around them and still didn't know if they could be completely trusted.

"So Rogue," said Jack, "as you can see we don't really have much to offer. A few days before the evacuation people went into a panic from the news of infection. Practically everything in the mall was looted. We don't really have any clean cloths to offer you, except for some over there in the corner."

He pointed to another far corner of the small store.

"They belonged to my sister," he said, "you look about her size so if you want to you can change out of that hospital shirt."

Rogue did not move at first. "What do you mean belonged to your sister," she asked.

Jack face did not change. He just said very calmly, "she's dead. She was killed shortly after we all went into hiding. The cloths over there are the only ones she had time to take from our house, before the infected broke in."

Rogue sighed and said, "Ah'm sorry."

"Why should you be," Jack said, "you didn't kill her."

He turned away from the Goth and walked back to his group of friends.

Rogue turned and walked to the corner. Sure enough there were cloths there. Ones that she would prefer not to wear.

First there was the matter of the shirt. It was a light blue with dark blue sleeves. The sleeves only cover her arms a few inches below her elbow.

Then, to cover her lower half, all that was there was a pair of short cut off jeans. If she wore those then her legs would be nearly completely exposed.

The only other thing there was a pair of black and white shoes, and those definitely wouldn't help her hide her skin.

"Ah can't wear these," she said to the four boys.

Derrick looked over to her. "Why not?"

"Because of mah mutant abilities that's why," she said some what angrily.

The boys looked at her confused. Rogue then remembered that she didn't tell them her powers yet.

She sighed and said, "when every a person comes in contact with mah skin Ah absorb their life force and memories. And Ah can't control it."

Jack, who was sitting in a chair, did not look back when he spoke. He seemed to sound irritated.

"Look Rogue, that is all we have to give you. If you don't like it then just stay in that fucking T-shirt. You're just gonna have to deal with what we've got."

Rogue did not complain after that. She took the cloths and went behind a nearby shelf to change, so the boys wouldn't see her.

After a few minutes of being back there she came out in her new attire. She was afraid to admit it, but she felt good having some of her skin exposed. Still she was very nervous.

As she headed to where the boys were sitting she pulled on the shorts to try and make them cover a little more of her thighs. She gave up after the fifth pull.

Luckily she still had the white rubber gloves to put on her hands.

When she came back the boy called Jack looked at her. "I suppose you want to know what has happened here."

Rogue looked at him, still nervous from her exposed skin. "Well, it would be nice to know why Ah lost everything," she said ort of sarcastically.

Jack did not react to it however. He stood from his chair and patted it. "Sit down," he said, "I prefer to stand."

Rogue sat in the chair willingly. She was still weak and she it felt good to sit down.

"Who wants to start," Jack asked, as he looked through the cage that block the entrance to their hide out.

"I'll do it," Keith said, in a somewhat saddened voice.

He took a deep breath and looked at Rogue as he spoke.

"It began about twenty eight days ago. Infection had just broken out and no one even knew of its existence. After a while people began to change. When ever the disease was administered into a person, he or she changed."

"It was like their minds were no longer theirs. Is if they had de-evolved into blood thirst animals. They would become filled with rage and all they would desire is to shed more blood."

"Those things you saw, the ones that chased you, are the result of infection. They are no longer the people you know, those people were dead, but the virus kept their bodies alive."

Rogue looked at Keith. This story was hard to believe, but after what she had seen she was willing to except what was said.

"So," Rogue asked, "you're saying that these people turned into some type of zombies, is that it."

"Yes and no," said Keith. "Zombies are creatures that come back from the dead. Those with Infection did not start out dead. If you are killed then you can not be effected by Infection. It can only enter into living hosts."

Rogue paused before speaking again. "Well, that explains the science behind this whole mess, but that still doesn't really tell me what happened."

Drew was the one to speak of this. "Infection is what happened," he said. "That is what caused all of this."

He paused for a second and looked sadly to the ground. "It started out as many riots. People killing people No body knew of the disease they were carrying. We were all unprepared."

"The police tried to stop the chaos, thinking they were just simple riots. Everything went bad. The virus spread like a wild fire. The more police that came to assist, the more became infected."

"All of New York went to hell. It wasn't until the virus became so out of hand that the government got involved. The army tried to evacuate the entire state. Do you know how hard it must be to evacuate that many people? Damn near impossible."

"As you can guess they didn't get everybody out in time. They had to quarantine us Rogue. The army has had to surround all of New York."

"The Infected tore this city apart, probably the whole state apart. There are survivors, much like us. God knows how long they'll live in this turmoil."

"Does the army know there are still survivors," Rogue asked.

"Yes," Drew answered. "Its easy to tell the survivors from the infected. And it doesn't take long to find if someone is infected. It just takes one drop of blood of one bite to become a host for the virus. And then it only takes a minute or two for the disease to manifest."

Rogue sat with a look of distressed on her face. This news she had received was terrible. Everything she knew had gone strait to hell. And what about the X-Men? What had become of them? Did they make it out of New York, or did they become infected as well?

As she thought of this tears began to roll slowly down her cheeks. She never really cried much, but in this case it was impossible to avoid. Every thing she had was lost.

Jack looked at her and saw her crying.

"Dry those tears," he said. "We've all lost what meant most to us here. If you want to survive in this mess you need to learn to deal with it."

Rogue looked up at him. His face was very serious, but also gentle in a way.

"He's right," said Derrick, who had been quiet for quite some time. "If you don't learn to live with your losses then you won't last more than a day."

"Is that so," said Rogue very upset. "Ah just lost the only true family Ah ever knew."

"So did we," said Derrick.

He looked at Rogue angrily as he spoke. "The day of the evacuation my family and I were about to escape this nightmare. There was such a huge crowed that it was to difficult to even move."

"There was so much insanity and panic that nobody realized that one of the people in the crowed was infected. The virus began to spread quickly through the mob of people. Everyone was falling left and right. Either dead of infected."

"The only way I could stay safe was by climbing on top of telephone booth. And up there I watched as my family, may own family, was torn apart by those things. I barely got out of that mess alive, so don't tell me how hard you've had."

Jack covered Derrick's mouth. "Enough, she gets the point," he said sternly.

He then looked at Rogue. "Tomorrow we'll take you back to your institute, incase you want to take something to help you remind you of this family you're talking about. But as of now we're going to stay here where it's safe."

Rogue didn't answer him. She just stood up from the chair and walked to the back of the store, grabbing one of the flashlights in the process. There she leaned her back against the wall and sat down. She needed to be alone for a while.

Jack took the blanket off his chair and threw it over to her. "If you want to sleep in my chair tonight you can," he said.

He then looked at his comrades. "Alright. Here's how it's gonna work for tonight. I'll keep watch from ten o'clock to midnight. Then Drew will take midnight to two, Keith will take two to four and Derrick will take four to six. Derrick wake us up as soon as it's six."

"You got it," Derrick answered.

Rogue just sat in the back. She was glad that they didn't ask her to keep watch.

She looked down at her knees as another tear came rolling down her cheek.

As she looked she saw a small green notebook lying in the rubble of the store. It reminded her much of the notebook she had at the institute. She had kept it sort of as a diary, she could record her own thoughts and the events of her days.

She reached over and picked it up. Luckily there was a pencil not to far away from it. She took that as well.

As she opened the cover o the notebook she could hear the four boys talking about something nearby. She did not want them to see her righting.

She grabbed the blanket that Jack had thrown to her and put it over herself covering everything from the waist up.

Back at the chairs Jack looked back at her. He could see her legs sticking out from under the blanket as she turned the flashlight on under it.

As he looked he thought, 'poor girl, she shouldn't have to deal with this crap.

Back under the blanket Rogue opened the notebook and began to right in it.

__

Dear Diary,

Everything that I have known has been destroyed.


	3. Safe Haven and Difficult Times

Author's Notes: Thank you psycho88 for your review. So you don't like Jean and Scott eh? That's ok, I'm not to fond of them either. Enjoy.

Save Haven and Difficult Times

Logan looked out at the barren waist land from the safe haven just outside of New York. After Infection got out of control the army put up many shelters all around the state for those how had no place to go. The X-Men were only a small percentage of these people.

The gruff man stood by himself as the events of the past few days went through his mind.

He thought of the three team members that they had lost and wondered why their time had to come so soon.

As he stood Kurt came out of one of the tents and walked over to him. Logan seemed to know he was coming.

"Kitty stop crying yet," he asked when the elf came next to him.

"Yah," Kurt answered. "She's sleeping now. Ororo had to give her something in order to get her to do so."

They both stood in silence for a while. It was a sad time for all. And they knew it was very possible for things to get even worse before they got better.

Kurt spoke as he looked up at the star filled sky. "The Professor just went to check up on Amara. The doctors say she should wake up any day now."

"Yep," Logan said as he nodded.

Kurt looked very sadly to the ground as he thought about what had happened.

His mind went back to when the infected got passed the mansion security system. He remembered hearing Roberto screaming as he was buried under those many things.

There were just so many of them. They couldn't hold them back. They couldn't fight all of them. They had no choice but to run for the X-jet and helicopter.

Kurt could still see Sam as he was reaching for his hand when the infected grabbed him and pulled him off the helicopter. He could still hear his cries as they flew off.

And then his thoughts went to Rogue. He had just found out that she was his sister, and he had already lost her.

Logan looked at the elf as the furry mutant sat in his sadness.

"You ok elf," he asked.

Kurt looked up at the gruff man. "I can't believe we just left her behind," he said.

Logan tried to sound comforting when he spoke, but that was never one of his strong points.

"Look elf, there's nothing we could have done," he said. "We tried to get to her, but by the time we did those things were all over the mansion. We couldn't save her even if we tried."

This did not bring any comfort to Kurt. "Do you think that will help us sleep better at night, knowing that we couldn't save her."

Logan looked away from Kurt, as he said, "no."

He then said, "all we can do now is hope she didn't wake up."

The two looked back out at the waist land, trying to keep their minds off of the tragic events.

Meanwhile the other X-Men sat on their beds in a nearby tent. They were not real beds, they were more like cots, and they provided little comfort.

However no sleeping was going on this night. The X-Men were mostly trying to comfort each other.

Scott and Jean sat on the far side of the tent. Scott had his arm around Jean while the red head was leaning against him.

No one was really talking to Jean on the count of a remark she had made about Rogue. Seeing how everybody was upset about leaving her behind she had no idea why she said such a cruel thing.

She had said, "well seeing how Rogue was taking so long to recover we all thought she would die in that bed anyway."

She really regretted saying that, now Scott was the only person who would even look at her.

Back with the group of X-Men Ororo sat over Kitty as she slept. They had to give her a Valium to get her to close her eye.

Bobby was standing near the flap of the tent watching the activity going on around them.

As he watched Tabitha came up behind him. She was not acting like her usual happy and spunky self. She was now a scared and depressed girl.

"What are you doing over here," she asked Bobby.

The boy turned to her as if surprised. He calmed down when he saw her face.

"Nothing," he said, "just thinking."

"Bout what," Tabitha asked.

Bobby gave a long sigh before answering. "Just how strange things seem to play out. I mean we've dealt with so many challenges before. We've dealt with our powers, humans finding out about us, and that incident when Rogue's powers went crazy. And we've managed to overcome everyone of them. But the biggest challenge we have to deal with, and the hardest, is a mutated head cold."

"I see what you're saying," said Tabitha. "It's hard to believe isn't it."

"Yeah," said Bobby. "I don't think anything will ever be the same again after this."

"Well, who knows," said Tabitha, "hopefully things will go back to normal after this is over."

"If it ever ends," said Bobby.

They stood in silence after those words.

The silence was soon broken by a few soldiers dragging in two large glass tanks accompanied by strange hideous sounds.

Bobby and Tabitha looked in the glass tanks. Inside each of them was one of the many people that had been infected.

Ever since the safe haven was made the soldiers had been keeping constant watch, making sure no infected got in. And if one ever did it would not be able to move five feet before being incased in one of those tanks.

Bobby and Tabitha watched as the two prisoners were dragged in.

One of the soldiers ran into a near by tent and dragged out a canister full of a poisonous gas. A hose was hooked up to the canister and then to a small opening in one of the gas tanks.

The gas was pumped into the tank. In no time the infected person began to gasp and cough. It would not take long for it to be dead.

As the first thing was being poisoned Bobby and Tabitha walked over to the tank carrying the second of the infected.

Tabitha looked at the thing. It stared at her with its unblinking and demonic eyes.

"I hate you," the girl said to the infected person.

The thing rammed itself against the glass as it made its horrible sounds to the girl.

Tabitha then formed one of her bombs in her hand and dropped it into the opening of the tank.

Bobby smiled as he backed away from the glass case with her.

After a few seconds there was an explosion. The glass casing shattered in an instant and the thing moved no more.

The sun began to rise slowly over the remains of the Bayeville mall. The infected that had been roaming the streets the night before began to go back in the shadows, which they preferred.

Inside the mall Rogue slept on the chair that Jack had offered her. She had moved there after she finished writing in the notebook she found.

She felt a little better after she had written out all her thoughts down. Whenever she had a difficult time back at the institute she would always write about it and let out all her emotions on paper. It always made her feel better. She figured she was going to really need the notebook she found in order to get through this madness.

As she sat on the chair with the blanket keeping her warm she began to stir. It took her time to wake up, but she eventually did.

Her eyes opened and she was greeted by the sound of snoring. She sat up and took the blanket off of her.

Drew and Keith were still sleeping in the chairs near her. They had their weapons clamped tightly in their hands as they breathed easily.

Derrick stood near the entrance of the store, listening for any sign of the infected.

He turned to Rogue as the girl stood up.

"Surprised to see you up this early," he said to the Goth as he turned back to the entrance.

"Ah normally don't wake up at this time," said Rogue, "but seeing how there's a bunch of blood thirsty zombies running around, it makes it difficult to sleep."

She looked at Keith and Drew as they snored. "And these damn fog horns don't help."

Derrick didn't say anything in response. He just continued his watch.

Rogue walked to the back of the store where she saw Jack sleeping while he leaned against the wall. His ax was placed along his lap, where he could easily grab it in case of an emergency.

Rogue wondered how these boys could sleep in this kind of situation.

As she watched the boy sleep a sudden growling sound came from her stomach. She had not eaten a thing in God knows how long.

Rogue place a hand over her stomach, sort of embarrassed by the noise.

"Hungry," she heard Derrick ask her.

"Kinda," she said as she turned to him.

Derrick pointed to the food piled up in the corner and said, "eat something. It's all cold, but it should still be edible."

Rogue walked over to the pile and slowly looked through it. Eventually she found a fried chicken sandwich and figured it would be the only thing with a decent taste if eaten cold.

She walked back over to the chair she was in and sat back down.

As she unwrapped her sandwich she heard Derrick say, "we'll let them sleep another fifteen minutes. Then we'll take you to your institute."

Rogue didn't say anything to him. She could tell that this Derrick guy didn't like her too much. It was the way he talked to her that tipped her off.

The Goth finished unwrapping her sandwich and took the first bite.

It tasted terrible. Nothing like what she had expected. It had the flavor of what Rogue imagined an old shoe would have. And it was very dry. When she swallowed it felt like sand paper going down her throat. But she knew that there was nothing better in the hide out. Still she could not help but gag.

Derrick watched her eat the sandwich. "Not good enough for you," he asked in a very rude way.

Rogue gave him and irritated look as she said, "Ah can manage."

"See that you do," said Derrick. "We don't have any of that fancy food you might get at that institute of yours."

Rogue stood up, offended by what he said.

Before she could give him what for she heard Jack from behind say, "lay off her Derrick."

Both Derrick and Rogue looked back at him as he lay against the wall. His eyes were still closed, but they knew he was awake. He had been listening to them the whole time.

Jack opened his eyes and looked at Derrick. "As I recall you couldn't stomach the food when you first got here either."

Derrick shut his mouth and turned back to the entrance.

Jack stood up and walked over to Rogue. "You'll have to excuse Derrick," he said. "He's got a rare condition. He jammed his foot in his mouth a long time ago and he hasn't been able to get it out since."

Rogue snickered a little before sitting back down.

She looked down at the shorts she had on and began to try and pull them over her thighs again, knowing it wouldn't do any good, but she still couldn't help but try.

After giving up yet again she picked up her sandwich and began to choke it down a little at a time.

Jack walked over to Derrick. "I take it there was no trouble last night."

"No," said the spiked headed boy. "I thought I heard something about an hour ago, but I don't think it was anything to worry about."

Jack nodded and then turned back to Rogue. "Rogue," he said, "since we're gonna be going out you'll need a weapon of some kind."

He looked back to Derrick. "Do we have anything she could use?"

"I doubt it," Derrick replied. "And I don't think any of us are willing to give up our protection."

Jack thought for a second and said to Rogue, "there is one thing I can give you, but I always think of it as a last resort."

Rogue watched as the boy reached into his trench coat. In a few seconds he pulled out a very well made handgun.

He held it in front of Rogue and said, "this was my father's gun. It's the only remaining weapon we have, and I don't really like to use it much."

Rogue looked at him questioningly. It seemed to her that a gun would be the best thing to use in a situation like this.

"Why," she asked.

"Because," Jack said as he reached into his coat again, "there aren't many bullets left."

He pulled a small box out of his pocket and shook it. "And I always felt that it should only be used in a real emergency."

"And what do you call the shit we're in right now," said Rogue in disbelief. "What kind of emergency are you waiting for?"

"Listen Rogue," he said a little irritated, "when you were chased last night, that was nothing compared to what could have happened. You were chased by six of the infected, there could have been a lot more. That is what I save the gun for, when I'm alone and there's more than a dozen of those bastards riding up my ass. That or when there's to much for us to handle with just our weapon's"

Rogue held her hands up as if asking him to stop. "Ok, ok Ah get it."

Jack calmed down a little and then said, "other than that I carry it for a sense of security. I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. Understand."

Rogue nodded.

Jack held the handle out to Rogue and said, "but until we can find you something else you're gonna have to use this."

As Rogue reached for it Jack held it out of her reach for a second. "You do know which end the bullet comes out of, right," he asked in a teasing voice.

Rogue snatched the gun out of his hand and said rather sarcastically, "oh that's hilarious."

Jack then handed her the remains of the bullets. He reached into his jacket again and pulled out the gun's holster attached to a belt.

Rogue took the holster and tried to wrap it around her waist. Sadly she was to skinny for the belt, there weren't enough notches in it.

With a roll of her eyes she flung the belt over her shoulder and stuck the gun in the holster. There was no way she was going to keep her hands clamped around that gun.

Jack then moved over to Keith who was still sleeping. He gave the fat boy a quick slap in the face and said, "wake up, we're on the move."

The four comrades and the Goth moved through the empty city. The sun was high in the sky and made everything warm up from the cold night before.

Rogue led the way seeing as the boys did not know the location of the institute.

It was difficult for her to find the way. Everything seemed so different now. Rogue could hardly even recognize any of the buildings she had seen hundreds of times.

As they moved through the vacant streets Rogue could hear Jack and Derrick talking behind her. She tried to make it seem like she wasn't listening, but Derrick said some cruel things that made the Goth want to suck him dry.

"Are you sure we should let her tag along," Derrick questioned Jack.

"We can't just leave her to fend for herself," Jack said.

"But she's a mutant," Derrick kept pushing. "How do we know we can trust her."

Jack said very sternly, "look, she's got no one to help her. We didn't either before we met up. If we leave her than she will die. Do you think you can live with that?"

"Jack I'm just saying," Derrick paused before saying quietly, "she's gonna slow us down."

"I don't think she will," Jack insisted and then he left it at that.

'Well,' Rogue thought, 'at least Ah can trust one of them.'

They continued one their way, passing by all the destruction. They tried not to let it depress them, that would only make them easy prey for the infected.

It took them quite a while, but they eventually made it to the institute. By the time they got there it was almost sunset.

They passed through the gates and up the lawn, passing the fallen Roberto on the way.

Rogue looked away from the body. She could not bare to see him like that again.

Drew saw her reaction to the corpse when they went by. "Friend of yours," he asked in a sympathetic voice.

Rogue could only choke out, "yes."

Drew then kneeled down next to the body and slid his eyes shut.

They made there way to the front door which had been torn off. Rogue's eyes turned wide at the sight of this.

"That door was still there when Ah left here the other day."

The boys looked at each other nervously at that statement.

Keith looked at the empty doorway and said, "maybe we shouldn't go in there."

Jack moved to the doorway and looked inside.

"We might have to," he said before turning back to his friends.

He looked up at the sky as he said, "it's gonna be dark soon. If it didn't take so long to get here, then I would agree. In this case it will take us just as long to get back to the mall. We'll be stuck out in the dark, with all the infected."

Derrick gave an aggravated groan and said sarcastically, "well, this was a fucking great idea. Hey lets take the girl back to her institute so she can find stuff to remember her family. And then we'll get stuck out here like sitting duck. Thank you Jack for screwing us over."

"Hey," Keith said as he held his bat up to Derrick's face. "We did the same form each other when we met up. We went back to our houses and got stuff to remember our families. So don't give us that shit."

Rogue looked over to Jack who was studying the broken parts of the doorway.

"So we're staying here tonight," she asked.

"Maybe," he said turning back to them. "first we're gonna check the place out. See if there are any infected here. And if there are we hightail it out of here as fast as possible and find some different place to hide for the night."

All nodded in agreement before entering the institute.

As soon as they entered a dank feeling filled the air.

They moved around the entrance way keeping there eyes on every shadow.

Rogue took hold of the gun and cocked it. She was prepared to shoot at anything that didn't move the way she liked it.

"Everybody stays with the group," Keith said as he looked through the doorway that led to the kitchen. "Nobody goes off by themselves."

Jack looked around the room. He held his ax tightly, ready to make something bleed.

"I think we should start with the upper floors and work our way down," he said.

"Well, what if there are infected down here," Rogue asked.

"Then we'll have the advantage of the high ground," Jack answered. It seemed to be a reasonable idea.

They went up the stairs. It made an eerie creaking sound with every step one person took. If there were any infected in the building they sure weren't going to sneak up on them.

The second floor of the institute was no better then the first floor. The wall paper was shredded and bloody handprints and streaks were on the left side.

"Oh God," Rogue said as she put her hand over her mouth.

They followed the blood all the way to the room that Rogue used to share with Kitty.

Jack grabbed hold of the door knob and both Drew and Keith stood with there weapons ready.

Jack pushed the door open and the two ran in. There was noting in the room but a huge blood stain on the floor. They all sighed in relief, except for Rogue.

As the boys moved on to the next room Rogue stayed behind, which should not have been done.

She walked in and stared at the pool of blood. She kneeled down in front of it, think that the blood could only have belonged to one person. Kitty.

"No," she said. She could not picture Kitty being dead. That girl was so innocent. Why did she have to be killed.

Rogue stood up only to sit down her old roommate's bed.

"This can't be happening," Rogue said. "They can't all be dead."

She looked over to Kitty's dresser. Most of her belongings were sprawled all over it. One thing in particular caught Rogue's eye.

It was the necklace Kitty always used to ware. She hardly ever took it off.

Rogue slid over to the dresser and picked up the necklace with a shaky hand. She held it up to her chest and said, "Ah'm sorry Kitty."

The Goth then put the necklace around her own neck. It was something that would remind her of her friend.

She tried to hold back her tears as she thought about the prep. Sure she was annoying some times, but she was still Rogue's friend.

Rogue looked to the side of the bed and saw Kitty's teddy bear that she always had sitting next to her pillow.

Rogue slowly picked it up and hugged it as she tried to calm herself.

Little did she know that she was not alone in the room. She was being watched by hidden eyes.

Rogue took a deep breath before standing up from the bed.

When she did something grabbed hold of her ankle.

All the Goth could do was gasp as she was pulled off balance. The gun holster flew off her shoulder when she hit the floor.

There was something under the bed, that was now pulling her, and Rogue was afraid that she knew what it was.

She began kicking her free leg, and made contact with a hard something.

The grip on her ankle was released and she got back up to her feet.

When she stood up the thing that grabbed her came out from under the bed.

She knew the face. She had seen it many times before.

"Sam," she blurted out in surprise.

It was indeed Sam. But not the one she knew. This Sam had the orange eyes and his arms flailed about in the air. He was infected. The Sam she had known was no more.

Rogue tried to aim her gun at the thing, but it leapt at her and pinned her against the wall, knocking the gun out of her hands.

As the Goth struggled with what used to be Sam she saw another of the infected crawl out from under her bed.

She struggled with "Sam" trying to free herself, but the thing was much stronger then the boy she knew.

As Rogue fought for her life, Derrick came running into the room. He saw the two things attacking Rogue and screamed out, "JESUS CHRIST!"

The second of the infected looked towards him and charged.

Derrick had no time to defend himself before he was tackled.

Rogue could hear him scream in pain as she fought with "Sam".

Within seconds Drew and Keith were in the room followed by Jack.

Derrick managed to push the second thing off of him and he began hitting it repeatedly with his sledge hammer.

Drew ran over to Rogue and jammed his machete into the former Sam.

He swung it off of the girl and over to Keith, who knocked it down and bashed it's brains out.

Jack looked at Rogue whose face was panicked. "Are you alright," he asked.

She didn't answer. She only said, "that was Sam."

Jack shook his head and looked at Derrick. "What about you," he asked, "are you ok."

Like Rogue, Derrick didn't answer. He didn't say anything.

He rolled up his sleeve. Blood dribbled down his arm as a wound was revealed.

It was a bite mark.

Jack looked at the wounded boy. "Derrick," he asked.

Derrick looked at him. He knew what had happened. Every one in the room knew.

Jack let out a sad sigh as he held his ax.

"You know what I have to do now, don't you Derrick," he asked.

Derrick just looked at him. He did not shed one tear, are give any whimper.

He only said, "make it quick."

Jack then swung his ax at him. In one powerful swing he cut off Derricks head.

Rogue gasped as her face turned to shock and terror.

Drew gave a sad look and said, "goodbye Derrick."

All three of them looked at Rogue. The poor girl was frozen with fear.

All of them then began to hear sounds from the upper floor. The sound of more infected.

"We gotta move," Jack demanded.

They began to leave the room, but Rogue just stood there starring at Derrick's dead body.

Both Jack and Drew grabbed her and began to pull her out of the room.

They all ran out of the institute as the many infected that were there began to fill its halls.


	4. Others Like Us

Author's Notes: Thank you all for reviewing. I'm glad everyone likes it so far. I will try to keep this story interesting.

Others Like Us

The group, now taken down from five to four, made haste in leaving the institute. The sun was rapidly descending and soon they would be stuck out in the dark.

When they were far enough away they slowed their pace.

Rogue was still shaking from what had happened. Sam was a member of her team and she had to watch as his brains oozed out of the cracks in his skull.

Jack did not seem to show any sympathy. He was very angry with Rogue at this point.

"We told you Rogue," he said. "We told you to stay with the group. But no, you had to go off by yourself. You could have ended up like Derrick."

Rogue's voice shook as she spoke. "Why did you kill him. Ah thought he was your friend."

Drew was the one to answer her. "He was infected. It doesn't matter who a person is. If it's your friend, your brother, or the fist person you ever fucked. If they're infected then they're already dead."

"But he was your friend," Rogue stated, "how could you kill your friend."

Jack shook his head and said, "you just don't get it do you girl. I did him a favor. I stop him from becoming a blood thirsty killer like the rest."

"Trust me if it happens to you we'll kill you like that," he said as he snapped his fingers.

Rogue then said sarcastically, "oh well Ah've enjoyed knowing you to."

Keith turned to her and held his bat up to her face.

"Enough of your bull shit," he said before turning back around.

Rogue stood still a few moments before following the boys again.

When she caught up with them she said, "look Ah know what kind of crap we're in, but Ah'd like to think that there was a better way of handling that situation. The X-Men wouldn't have just killed him, they would have tried to find a way to help him."

"How the hell would they do that Rogue," Jack asked harshly as he turned to her.

He paused for a second and then asked, "what is going on in that head of yours? What, do you think we're gonna find some magic cure and save humanity? It's not going to happen, there is no cure. The only thing we can do in this situation is try to stay alive. That's as good as it's gonna get."

He said no more. He only turned away and they all continued to move.

The sun was almost completely out of view. It was now only a matter of time before the infected would begin prowling about the streets.

That thought made Rogue even more nervous. She moved ever so slowly, keeping her eyes on every shadow, because she wanted to be ready to run if anything came out at her.

Her movement was so slow that the boys got a good distance ahead of her.

They stopped when they realized she was not with them. They looked back and saw her moving so cautiously. To anyone else this image would have been amusing, but not to them.

"What's taking you so long," Keith called back to her. "You move any slower you're gonna be dead in less then ten minutes."

"Cut me some slack," Rogue said angrily, "Ah lost the gun back at the institute. Ah can't protect mahself now."

Jack sighed and reached into his coat pocket.

"Relax," he said as he pulled the gun out of his trench coat. "I grabbed the gun as we were dragging you out."

"What," Rogue asked full of rage.

She ran over to them and looked at Jack angrily. "You mean you had me walking out here, scared half out of mah mind, without a weapon, and you had the gun this whole time we've been running."

Jack walked up to her until his face was only two inches away from hers. "I wanted you to calm down a little first," he said. "The way you were acting you'd fire this thing when ever you heard a sound."

He then put the gun in Rogue's hand and continued with his remaining friends into the darkness.

Rogue followed close behind, but didn't speak at all. 'What is with these people,' she asked herself in her mind. 'One minute they seem to care about mah safety and the next they don't seem to give a shit."

They continued to move. The sun was now out of view and the moon had taken its place. They could all be attacked by the infected at any moment.

Sure they would have hidden by now, but none of the buildings around them seemed to provide any protection.

Keith looked up at the night sky and shook his middle finger at it, knowing what it was going to bring.

As they quickened from a walk to a run Drew noticed something not too far away.

"What the hell is that," he asked causing everyone to stop.

They all looked at what he saw.

Lights. Many lights blinking on the top of a high building.

"You think there's somebody up there," Keith asked.

Jack looked at the lights. The infected weren't bright enough to set traps.

"If there isn't," he said, "then we'll at least have a decent place to hide for the night."

They quickly ran over to the building where the lights were coming from.

The darkness around them made it very difficult for to see. It took time to locate the building with the lights from a close distance.

As soon as they were in the right place they began to take the stairs up to the floor where the lights were coming from. Seeing as the elevator didn't work that was their only way up.

The building they were in was very tall, which meant a very long staircase, something none of them were looking forward to.

Still they didn't came plain as they moved up each flight, walking the whole way.

Rogue was in the back of the line going up. No one said a word as they climbed.

By the time they were half way up Rogue's legs were killing her, but she didn't complain. She knew they had to make it up there.

But as they got farther up the headache that she had yesterday was returning. She remembered how bad it was the other day, but it came back even worse.

The Goth tried to ignore it to the best of her abilities. It was very difficult to do so.

Jack looked back at the girl and saw her grabbing her head.

"You ok," he asked.

"Ah'm fine," Rogue lied as they continued up the stairs.

She only managed to move up a few more steps before saying, "no Ah'm not. Ah need to rest."

She turned around and sat down on the steps. She grabbed her head as she groaned in pain.

The three boys looked at her.

"What's wrong," Keith asked.

"A headache," she said. "Ah feel like somebody dropped a load of bricks on me."

Jack stepped down to her saying as he sat next to her, "then why didn't you tell us earlier."

"Ah thought you wouldn't give a damn," she said.

The hardness in Jack's face vanished. He made Rogue face him and the Goth looked into his nearly white eyes.

"How long were you in the hospital," he asked her.

Rogue tried to think through the pain.

"Ah don't really know," she said. "It was for quite a while."

Jack nodded and said, "well I think that explains it. You've been dealing with so much stress after just getting out of a hospital bed where you were for such a long time. Your brain can't really handle it yet so it retaliates by giving you pain."

He stood up and said, "unfortunately there's nothing we can do about that except wait for it to go away."

Rogue gave another groan of pain before saying, "that sucks."

For the first time that day Jack gave her a look of pity.

"Sit up a little will you," he asked Rogue before putting down his ax and sitting down behind her.

Rogue did as requested, but didn't really know why.

Jack put his gloved hands on her shoulders and began giving her a gentle, but comforting massage.

The rubbing felt good. Rogue closed her eyes and leaned her head forward a little.

Keith leaned on the railing and looked at Drew. "See, look at that. Every time someone gets a headache he lets the magic fingers go to work. It's like an addiction."

Rogue felt herself sinking into the rubbing. It was sort of helping her headache go away.

Suddenly Jack stopped his hands and raised his head up in alarm.

Rogue opened her eyes and lifted her head. She shook her shoulders wondering why the rubbing had stopped.

"What's wrong," she asked.

No one had to give her the answer. It revealed itself with a very familiar and terrible sound.

"Oh crap, more infected," Drew blurted out before Keith and him took off up the steps.

Jack grabbed his ax and said, "come on move," very persistently.

He ran up the steps with Rogue running after him.

The boys were in such a panic that they did not notice Rogue lagging behind.

Rogue ran up the stairs as her headache came pounding back. The pain made it difficult to run, but she still managed to move at a decent pace.

Nonetheless, the infected still moved faster than she did. In no time Rogue could see them chasing her.

The Goth took up the gun and aimed it as she ran. She had never fired a gun before in her life, it was no wonder she wasn't a good shot.

She pulled the trigger and let the first bullet fly. It zipped by one of the infected, missing it by inches.

Rogue fired again, and still hit nothing.

Finally she turned all the way around and put both of her hands on the gun. She pulled the trigger and the bullet went clean through the air and hit one of the infected in the shoulder.

But that did not stop it. It didn't even seem to slow down.

All the infected kept coming.

Rogue turned again and tried to run faster.

Now she didn't even have time to aim. If she tried she would be enveloped by the infected.

Her heart began to pound with fear as she began to think escape was impossible.

She screamed up to the three boys. "GUYS!"

A few flights up the three boys stopped.

"WAIT FOR ME, PLEASE," Rogue screamed in absolute terror.

Jack pointed at his friends. "Keep going," he ordered as he went back to help Rogue.

Meanwhile Rogue kept running.

Only a few seconds had passed, but they seemed like hours, and she still didn't see any of the boys.

"HELP," she screamed out again.

Just then a hand reached down from one of the flights of stairs above.

Rogue ran over to it and grabbed it, not caring whose it was.

She felt herself being lifted up, and up there she saw Jack's face.

Jack helped her over the railing and then began to pull her along.

The infected were still coming.

Higher up the stairs Drew and Keith made it to the final floor. There were many doors and they had no idea which one the lights came from.

They began running from wall to wall banging on them and yelling things like, "hello! Can anyone hear us?!"

At last Rogue and Jack made it to that floor, but the infected were still not far behind.

Keith and Drew ran over to them with there weapons ready.

Rogue pointed her gun, ready to fire.

The infected came around the corner like a tidal wave.

There were seven of them. Enough to be a problem for the four survivors.

The things hit the four hard, pushing them back towards the end of the hall.

Both Jack and Keith were pinned to the floor, with their weapons held in a position so they couldn't use them.

Rogue was slammed against the wall as her gun was grabbed by the infected person. She kept her grip on it, but the thing still struggled with her.

Drew was busy trying to fend off the other four with his machete.

As the four struggled for their lives a door at the end of the hall opened and out came a tall African American man. His face was covered with a beard and he had a pair of glasses over his eyes, one of the lenses being cracked.

He ran out of the room with a crowbar in his hands.

Drew was partially startled when the man ran over to him and hit one of the infected with his crowbar.

He quickly shook the feeling off and took the man's coming as an advantage. He swung his machete forward cutting open one of the infected.

The thing fell to the floor as warm blood dripped from the wound.

The black man began hitting another infected person in the head. Not stopping until it fell down motionless.

Back on the floor Keith just managed to overcome the thing on top of him.

He pushed it off and stood to his feet. He kicked the thing that was holding Jack down, and helped his friend stand.

Then in a quick move both Jack and Keith grabbed the infected person Rogue was dealing with and threw it against the opposite wall.

The black man yelled at the four, "get inside quickly," as the for remaining infected stood up.

The three boys did not listen. They stood by the man and readied their weapons.

Rogue stood with her gun aimed.

The infected ran at the boys and the man.

Rogue fired her gun. The bullet shot right through the skull of one of the infected, killing it instantly.

The three boys charged at the last three things, swinging there weapons like mad. Blood splattered on the wall as the infected were killed.

After they were dead Keith got a little carried away and kept hitting one of the bodies.

After a few hits Jack grabbed his arm and calmed him down.

Rogue began to breathe more easily as she slid down the wall and sat on the floor.

The three boys looked at the person Rogue had shot.

The Goth saw the three admiring her "work".

She held her gun up with a smile and said, "finally got one."

Jack helped her to her feet.

Drew walked over to the African American man and held his hand out.

"Thanks," he said as the man took it.

"No need to thank me," he said, "I can't let people to get torn apart by these things."

The man went back into the room and allowed the four to enter.

When they were inside he closed the door and locked it tightly.

"I wouldn't do that," Jack said. "Not yet at least. The bodies will need to be cleared out or else more infected will smell the blood."

The man walked away from the door saying, "I'm keeping it locked for now."

He passed by the four and stood in front of them.

"I'm glad to see that more people survived through all this turmoil," he said, "We were beginning to think we were the only ones left alive."

The four were confused by his statement.

Keith cocked his head and said, "you mean there are more of you."

The man nodded and turned his head. He held his hand up to his mouth and called to the other survivor.

"Amanda," he called. "Come on out, its safe now."

When Rogue heard that name her eyes turned wide.

After a while Amanda came out from one of the rooms and walked over to the man.

The man put his arm around her shoulder and said, "this is my daughter, Amanda Sefton. My name is Lucas Sefton." (Author's notes: I don't know his real first name.)

Amanda looked at the four new comers. Her eyes passed by each of them until she saw a familiar face.

"Rogue," she said in astonishment.

"Amanda," Rogue said in the same way.

The two girls looked at each other as the boys just stood confused.

"You know each other," Jack asked both of them.

Rogue didn't say anything. She just stood in shock. Kurt's girlfriend was still alive.

It took quite a while for both Rogue and Amanda to explain how they knew each other. To tell the truth they didn't know each other very well. They would see one another every now and again. All they really knew were their names.

After everything was settled and things were clarified Mr. Sefton allowed the four to stay with them. But Rogue had a strange feeling that he didn't really approve of having a mutant hiding with him.

Amanda and Rogue talked to each other about what they had gone through since Infection broke out.

From what Rogue was told, Amanda's mother was killed after some of the infected broke into her house. Both she and her father had to leave their home behind and they had been hiding in this room ever since.

Rogue told Amanda everything that had happened to her since she woke up in the infirmary. She told of everything, from when she saw the institute in ruins to when Derrick had to be killed.

Amanda did seem upset when she was told that Kurt's whereabouts were unknown, but she tried not to show it.

As the two talked the three boys checked out the apartment to see if it was suitable to protect them from the infected. It would do just fine.

The boys did not make them selves at home. As soon as they checked the place out they went strait to disposing of the bodies.

While they took care of that Amanda led Rogue to the bathroom of the apartment.

"I take it you want to get cleaned up a little," she said opening the door.

Inside was a small tub full of water. The plumbing didn't work so this was all the Seftons had.

"I know it's not much," Amanda stated, "but I figured you'd feel better after you washed off some of that grunge."

Rogue nodded and said, "thanks."

She walked into the bathroom and closed the door. She took off one of her rubber gloves and put her finger in the water.

The water was absolutely frigid, but Rogue knew it would have to do.

She took off all her cloths and stepped into the small tub.

There was a small piece of soap and a wash cloth laid at the side. She picked both up and cleaned herself off while standing up. It was an uncomfortable bath, but it did the trick.

While Rogue bathed the three boys dragged the bodies out to the street.

It was a long and tedious job, but it had to be done.

Drew and Jack had to help each other carry the corpses. Keith was able to take them down by himself, seeing how he was the strongest of the group.

As the first two bodies were placed onto the pavement outside Drew asked foolishly, "why exactly are we doing this again?"

"So we don't get killed in our sleep," Jack answered as if it was so obvious. "Leaving these bodies up there is like ringing the fucking dinner bell."

Drew nodded and slapped himself for asking such a stupid question.

It took them a long time but, they eventually got all the bodies down on the street. They stacked them in a pile far away from the door.

"Ok light it," Jack ordered as Drew and he dropped the final body.

Keith took out his matches and lit the clothing of one of the bodies. It took some time, but the corpses began to burn.

The sound of more infected were heard nearby.

The three moved back into the house and up the stairs.

"Now we wash off every drop of that blood," Drew stated.

"Yeah," said Keith. "No way those bastards are finding us tonight."

"Damn strait," Jack said as they moved with haste.

During this time Rogue had finished bathing. She stepped out of the cold water and dried herself off with the towel Amanda had brought her. She dried off quickly to stop the could feeling that covered her body.

She grabbed the clothes the three boys gave her and put them back on. There was nothing else for her to ware.

After putting on her clothes she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked so tired, which was amazing seeing how she had been sleeping for such a long time. She brushed her hair as best she could with her fingers trying to make it neater.

She then noticed a can of shaving cream and a razor in front of the mirror. Without a doubt they belonged to the former owner.

Rogue grabbed both of them. She sat down one the edge of the tub and sprayed the shaving cream upon her right leg. After rubbing it around a little she slid the razor along it, cutting herself instantly.

"Ow," she said as she felt the quick pain. "Damn it."

The blood ran down her flesh. She ignored it and continued to shave her legs.

Back out in the hall the boys were cleaning up the blood.

They were just about finished when Mr. Sefton came out to check on them. What they were doing made no sense to him.

"Is this all really necessary," he asked.

The boys looked at him as if he asked a stupid question.

Jack walked up to him and held the bloody rag in front of him. "You see this. The infected can smell this from a mile away. If we leave it lying around then there will be tons of Infected right outside your door quicker than you can say, 'oh fuck'. Let us do what we have to if you want to stay alive."

Mr. Sefton did not question them again.

The boys finished cleaning the blood and went back into the apartment.

Keith grabbed the nearest waist basket and they wall threw the rags in it. Once again a lit match was thrown in with the bloody pieces of cloth and burned until they were ashes.

Amanda watched this routine. It was very strange to her. But these boys seemed to know what they were doing.

When they were finished Mr. Sefton spoke. "You're free to sleep where ever you want tonight. Uh, the room over there is where my daughter is sleeping, so that one is off limits as you can guess. If one of you doesn't mind bunking with me, then that's alright."

"We'll be fine here," Jack said pointing at the living room, dining room area.

"Are you sure," Mr. Sefton asked.

The boys just nodded.

"Well, ok," Mr. Sefton said as he shrugged. "If you don't mind it's been a long day, and I'm exhausted. So I guess I'll see you all in the morning." And with that he went to bed.

Amanda stayed back with the boys and watched them as they slowly paced around the room.

They had placed their weapons on the table seeing as they needed two free hands to move the bodies outside. It seemed to be the first time that they even put down their weapons.

Amanda sat down next to the lethal objects. She picked up the machete and looked at it. She had never seen such a big knife before in her life.

"Put that down," she heard Drew order. And she instantly put it back on the table.

It was at that time that Rogue exited the bathroom.

She looked at the boys as they paced. "So who want in the bathroom next," she asked.

"We're fine," Keith said as he began to fiddle with the cuff of his jumpsuit. It was a nervous habit he developed ever since infection broke out.

Jack looked at Rogue as he paced.

"I see you shaved," he said pointing at the cut on Rogue's leg.

She looked down at the cut and said, "yeah. I wouldn't really call it shaving." She looked back at Jack. "More like shredding."

Jack gave a little snicker through his nose.

Rogue looked from boy to boy. She tried to getup the nerve to say what she wanted to say.

"Um, guys," she said to all the young men.

The boys stopped pacing and looked at her.

She took a deep breath and said, "Ah know you don't think Ah understand what's going on, but Ah do And Ah know Ah would be dead right now if you hadn't of taken me in."

After a few second of uncomfortable silence Rogue said, "what Ah'm trying to say is Thank you."

The boys did not say anything at first.

Then Jack said, "you're welcome," and his friends nodded in agreement.

Rogue then walked over to Amanda and sat next to her.

The girl looked at the tired Goth.

"Are you alright Rogue," she asked.

Rogue looked up at her and tried to force a smile. "It's just been a bad couple of days. Ah guess Ah'm still having trouble coping with everything that has happened."

Amanda nodded in agreement.

Rogue closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, wondering if this nightmare was ever going to be over.


End file.
